There is a true power to listening. A power and force that goes beyond learning to deep understanding. I’m not talking about listening the way many of us think about listening today. I’m referring to real, attentive, leaning-forward-in-my-seat, I want to know you and your point-of-view listening.

When you listen in this way, you truly set yourself aside for a moment in time to receive a part of another person’s life. And, it’s the only way to truly experience what another person feels or believes.

“True listening requires setting aside one’s self.” -F. Scott Peck

In a world where you sometimes feel like you only have time to run from one meeting to the next and bounce from one device to the next, there is rarely time for this kind of listening. Conversely, there is rarely time to be heard in this way.

Many inspiring leaders of the past feel this same way. They understood something about listening that allowed them to find the success and fulfillment they were looking for.

“If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from his angle as well as your own”. -Henry Ford

“Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. The friends who listen to us are the ones we move toward. When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand.” Karl A. Menninger

“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” Stephen R. Covey

How would your life be different if you gave just 5% more of yourself to listen to others? How would your products be different? Your relationships with your team? Your customer service?